The villages, after the fall of the heroes, were in utter ruin. Everyone was running in panic, trying to flee with their lives, and blood was scattered everywhere, staining the white snow with the color of death. Amidst this tragedy, the demon commander observed the scene with a crazed smile of victory.
Suddenly, he felt violent tremors striking the ground from below. His smile widened and he whispered coldly: "So you are still alive, Ice Lord. This suits you, but what you face below is no ordinary monster; it is one of the Ancient Covenant beasts. It was our greatest problem and obstacle, but thank you for moving it and waking it for us. Do not worry, I will send the inhabitants of this village and the neighboring villages to you very soon."
Meanwhile, the Ice Lord was desperately trying to escape the tentacles of the beast dragging him downward with brute force. The Ice Lord looked down and saw a terrifying sight of a colossal monster taking the shape of a giant octopus, having tightened its grip on him, dragging him toward dark, abyssal depths that no will could resist.
The air withered in his chest, so he immediately relied on an ancient magical device that had long allowed him to breathe underwater. As soon as his vision cleared, that terrifying nightmare manifested before him: a giant beast with eight limbs and a flexible body, poised to devour him.
The monster swung one of its tentacles in a crushing blow, but the Ice Lord's reaction was swift, conjuring an ice shield that softened the catastrophe. Before he could catch his ragged breath, another tentacle ambushed him, pulling him toward a deeper abyss, followed by the rest of its limbs in an overwhelming assault that could not be repelled.
In a final moment of despair, the Ice Lord gripped his blade and shattered the silence of the waters with a spell: "Zero Ice Strike."
A glacial blizzard erupted in the depths, and the frost crept through the beast's veins until it froze completely. Not satisfied with that, Hyuga followed it with another spell: "Thin Ice Strike."
He coated his sword in a transparent layer capable of cleaving the hardest metals, and used it to sever the frozen limbs of the beast.
But his victory was a mirage lasting only seconds. The beast shattered its icy tomb and attacked again. Although the Ice Lord managed to sever one of its tentacles, the flesh regenerated and healed in the blink of an eye. The Ice Lord whispered in shock: "So... you regenerate with this cursed speed!"
On the other side, on the surface, Volak's area was drowning in a sea of terror. Demons ran rampant, harvesting souls without mercy. There, a demon seized an elderly man and struck him down before the eyes of his grandson. The young boy, Ryan, collapsed in tears with a broken heart, screaming at the top of his lungs before hurling his frail body toward his grandfather's killer.
The demon kicked the old man's corpse with disdain, and swatted the boy away with a cruel blow, mocking: "You foolish brat! Your power hasn't even awakened, and you hope to defeat me?"
The boy replied, his voice choked with rage and tears: "I do not want to defeat you! I want to rip off your head to avenge my grandfather's death!"
The demon laughed with invincible arrogance: "Rip off my head? Do not rave, little on—"
Before he could finish his sentence, his head flew through the air, severed from his body, while a calm, familiar voice echoed: "Do not mock the dreams of the young, for they may manifest into reality, you bastard."
The boy's eyes widened in shock as he looked at his savior: "You? How? You died!"
Volak placed his hand over his heart in disbelief, finding it completely healed. What was more astonishing was that a strange power surged through his body, somewhat familiar. But he had no time to think. He placed his hand on the boy's shoulder, saying to him: "I do not know either, but hurry and hide, and leave this to me."
Then Volak smiled and added: "And take your grandfather too."
The child wept then, saying: "My grandfather... my grandfather has died."
Before the boy could finish, he heard his grandfather's voice from behind saying: "What is wrong with your grandfather?"
The boy flinched upon hearing the familiar voice. He turned to find his grandfather alive and well. His tears stopped from sheer astonishment, and he stepped forward with trembling feet to touch his grandfather's body: "Grandfather! Is it really you? How? I saw the demon kill you..."
The grandfather pulled him to his chest tenderly: "Do not worry, I am fine... somehow."
In that pivotal moment, a strange and holy magical energy pulsed through the air, breathing life into the bodies of the fallen. They all rose amidst the utter bewilderment of the demons. What doubled the demons' terror was not just the return of the dead, but the cessation of their own regenerative powers!
Their panicked cries rose: "What is this? Regeneration isn't working! Has the humans' strength increased after their awakening? Impossible!"
A demon lunged at a human warrior and severed his arms, but a mysterious energy manifested and rebuilt the limbs in seconds. Before the demon could process the shock, its head was rolling on the ground.
Miracles followed. At Julian's location, as the village gasped its last breath, that holy energy surged to revive the entire garrison. They fell upon the demons like a torrential flood. Julian awoke from his coma feeling a power surging within his veins ten times stronger; from the blood of the slain, he shaped predatory blood-eagles that tore the demons to shreds.
In Harold's square, his charred limbs healed. He rose and struck the earth with his fist, triggering volcanic lava that consumed the demons alive. Iris returned from death to grip her scythe and harvest enemy souls, while in Rose's direction, the villagers revolted against their tormentors.
The demon commander stood stunned, watching his army collapse and be exterminated. He muttered in disbelief: "How is this happening? They were dead! How do they return from nothing?"
Then, he sensed a massive pulse of energy emanating from a nearby hut... it was the source of this miracle.
The commander roared violently: "Now I understand!"
He rushed toward the hut in blind rage, shouting: "Whoever is the reason my great plan was ruined, I will kill them! Do you realize how long this planning took me?"
The demon grabbed the door and smashed it. When he looked inside the hut, tragedy struck him. A thirteen-year-old girl was the one who had ruined his plan.
The demon laughed hysterically and said: "So my grand plan was ruined by a healer girl no older than thirteen? Are you kidding me? I thought the Ice Lord was the greatest threat, but what an irony of fate! You, girl, were the dark horse."
He approached her and continued with malicious amusement: "And what is more infuriating... look at your state and your withering body. Do you not even look at me while I threaten your life? No matter, because you will die right now."
He raised his hand to strike her, but a cold, calm voice stopped him from behind: "The game is over."
In a flash, the Spirit sliced the demon commander's body into two halves.
He then looked at the girl, pained by the sight of her. Her hands were completely shattered, tightly gripping magical stones. Her broken and battered body was gasping its final breaths, clinging to life by a thin thread to continue channeling the healing energy.
The Spirit said in a voice filled with sorrow and grief: "Little girl... you have fought bravely, but it is time for your rest. You have fulfilled your mission."
The Spirit drew his sword to cut the flow of energy and save what remained of her life.
The girl shrieked in a hoarse voice: "No! Stop! I haven't finished my work! There are still demons, people fighting, and wounded children bleeding! I must heal them all!"
The Spirit gently held her shattered hand and said: "You say this while your hands are crushed and covered in deep scars? Enough! You have done your part. If you continue, you will lose your life... do you not fear death?"
The girl squeezed her bleeding hands over the stones despite the agonizing pain, increasing the pace of energy absorption to double the village's strength even more, leaving the Spirit in total awe of her willpower.
She smiled weakly, tears glistening in her eyes: "I am afraid... for we here do not forget the dread of death. But... if I surrender to my fear, the children and everyone in the villages will perish. The demons are being eradicated, yes, but not all of them. Any wound that strikes a child, a mother, an infant, or an elder... is my responsibility. I will heal them... even if the price is my soul."
The Spirit closed his eyes, his grip tightening on his sword hilt, and said in a voice heavy with regret: "Then... I apologize for what I must do."